Speech: Turia - Maori and Parliament
te-pati-maori
Fri May 08 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Speech: Turia - Maori and Parliament
Friday, 8 May 2009, 12:54 pm
Speech: The Maori Party
Maori and Parliament:
the 8th Parliamentary Conference
Parliament Buildings; Friday 8 May; 11am
Hon Tariana Turia, Co-leader of the Maori Party
I want to congratulate the Stout Research Centre and the former Parliamentarians’ Association for your initiative in creating this conference.
I see amongst the key speakers identified in the programme some of the leaders, the architects, the designers, the movers and shakers of Maoridom who have had such a critical role in establishing the presence of Maori within Parliament.
I mihi to you all, for your commitment.
And I think too, of those who are not with us today. I think of those who have shaped the political terrain from their pioneering leadership as Maori in Parliament.
141 years ago Frederick Nene Russell, Mete Kingi Te Rangi Paetahi, Tareha Te Moananui and John Patterson took up their places as the first Maori Members of Parliament in the New Zealand House of Representative.
In 1893, James Carroll won the general seat of Waiapu – the first Maori to win a general seat – and one he held for an impressive 26 years. Mr Carroll also earned his place in history as the first Maori appointed as Acting Prime Minister in 1909 and later in 1911.
And of course I remember with great respect the influence of my aunt Iriaka Ratana, the first Maori woman to represent our people as a Member of Parliament.
These are but a few of the many names and memories of the leaders who have transformed Parliament into a unique institution of Aotearoa.
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But there is one particular initiative which distinguishes the role of Maori within parliament as unique across the globe; and that is the existence of the Maori seats.
To assist us in engaging in these very complex issues, I thought I would develop an inventory to the parliamentary seats for Maori; a political stocktake of the mechanisms for representation.
First on the list, then, is the three-legged stool.
This is the type of Maori seat in which the barest of resources are allocated towards servicing the Maori electorates.
Before the Maori seats were even established in this House, critics were arguing that the size of the Maori electorates were so unwieldy that they were rendered unworkable.
From 1867 right up until just recent weeks, the resourcing of the Maori seats has been insufficient to support the real demands of the constituency.
Ngati Hine history tells us that in the early part of 20th century, the Northern member, Tau Henare, had to travel for four days on horseback just to reach his constituents in the Far North.
Over a century later, while horseback has been replaced by horsepower, the difficulties of large and inaccessible electorates are still with us.
My colleague Rahui Katene, is particularly challenged in having over 161,000 square kilometres to cover. For a sense of perspective, Te Tai Tonga is roughly seven thousand times the sizes of the Epsom electorate.
(That’s one of the general electorates – characterised by ergonomically designed, state of the art seats of power).
This is the context that we brought into our coalition agreement; and it is one of the very first tangible markers of an independent Maori voice in Parliament, that finally, the needs of Maori voters are being honoured by the commitment of this Government to increase the electorate services with the addition of an extra staff member.
The second type of Maori seat in this House, is the rocking chair.
That’s the type of seat in which Maori members of Parliament are called on for advice “every now and then” – more often than not, when controversy calls. The rocking chair is closely associated with the inflatable chair – that’s the seats that blow up on rare occasions, and then slowly but surely, become deflated and flat.
The rocking chair type of representation means that Maori are often denied real influence; Maori concerns being subservient to the mainstream political agenda.
The Royal Commission on the Electoral System in 1986 argued that the representation of the Maori seats in practice, at that time, was far less than it deserved. The review described representation in the Maori seats as ineffective at actually protecting Maori interests, suggesting also that often Maori MPs copped the blame for unpopular policies. As a result of these findings, the Commission proposed to abolish the seats.
But they underestimated the symbolic power that Maori themselves saw in these seats; a power that has been latent for too long.
And so their conclusions are worth repeating for the record,
“The Maori seats have nevertheless come to be regarded by Maori as an important concession to, and the principal expression of, their constitutional position under the Treaty of Waitangi”.
An expression that we in the Maori Party give our complete commitment to supporting, for as long as tangata whenua see these seats as synonymous with the indigenous voice, and a legitimate means of meeting the Crown’s treaty obligations.
The next seat at the table is the lazyboy armchair seat. That’s the type of representation in which Maori MPs were encouraged to sit back and relax while the decisions of the day were made by the party hierarchy.
In these seats, the realities of such vast geographical constituencies works distorts democracy, with elected representatives either overwhelmed by their constituency work, or neglecting the electorate for the urgent demands of the policy agenda in Parliament.
Then there’s what we might refer to as the Musical Chair. That’s the game of now we want you, now we don’t. Members of the National Party have been particularly fond of this seat.
But this game it appears, is no longer in fashion. Indeed, again in the 2008 coalition agreement the Maori Party signed with National; there is a very bold statement which stands on its own, namely
“The National Party agrees it will not seek to remove the Maori seats without the consent of the Maori people”.
Again, an important statement of this time, for the record.
On the other side of the table there’s the Swinging Hammock.
That’s the furniture of the Labour Party who one minute see no need to entrench the seats; in the lead up to the election start talking about entrenching the Maori electoral option, and then in recent weeks have decided they will entrench the seats after all.
And the final chair to complete the suite, is the good old-fashioned, solid rimu dining room seat. This type of seat is represented by those who are grounded in indigenous values; who know the significance of holding true to kaupapa and tikanga Maori. It withstands time, it is solid, steady and it isn’t going away.
And most importantly of all, the dining room seat expects to be positioned at the decision-making table.
This rather light-hearted look at the Maori seats, nevertheless has a serious intent in terms of how we regard the effectiveness of Maori political representation.
A common challenge is that the Maori seats are redundant within an MMP environment. Yet if we examine that proposition in the light of the 2008 Parliament we find that the 18 Maori MPs represent just 14.8% of Parliament’s membership – lower than the 17.7 percent of the population identified as Maori.
If we took out the seven Maori seats, eleven Maori MPs equates to just nine percent of the membership of Parliament. So the argument that Parliament has come of age and that Maori representation makes the Maori seats unnecessary doesn’t work.
It’s all to do with the quality of the outcomes achieved.
What difference is made by those holding the Maori seats?
And this is where I think days like today are so important, for debating and evaluating the results we see from Maori political representation.
By Maori political representation, I mean at its most simple form, making present again – ensuring the voice of Maori is present throughout the political agenda.
Maori political representation will be expressed in multiple dimensions, and should inform every aspect of the legislative programme.
That has been how the Maori Party has approached our representation anyway – to influence and advocate for the voice of Maori to be heard in the debating chamber, in the lobbies, in the select committee rooms, on every level of the Beehive.
Within that, we have maintained a consistent focus on what we believe is the most important goal of our role in Parliament.
There are our bottom line policies – the review of the Foreshore and Seabed Act; the constitutional review and the broadest issues of Maori representation.
All of these are in progress now – the submissions on the Foreshore and Seabed Review due to close on Tuesday 19th May; the group to consider constitutional issues will be next on the agenda.
But there are other wide-ranging policy challenges which permeate every aspect of our representation.
This is summarised in one sentence in the coalition agreement which reads:
“The Maori Party seeks significant outcomes in whanau ora; through eliminating poverty; advocating for social justice and advancing Maori social, cultural, economic and community development in the best interests of the nation”.
This simple statement of vision was the rationale behind our ministerial positions in Maori Affairs; health; education; corrections; social development; disability issues and the community and voluntary sector.
It is being realised in many ways.
There is the work Dr Sharples is leading on establishing habilitation centres; centres of restorative justice within prison. There’s the focus on Maori provider development in health; on kaupapa Maori education; on Matua whangai in social services; on establishing a Parliamentary Commissioner for the Treaty.
There’s the momentum we’ve achieved already not just in retrofitting existing state houses, but in building new houses to meet the demand.
There’s the influence of significant Maori voices across a range of Government appointments.
We’ve seen the energy generated by the Maori economic summit, and the opportunities being created by the Maori economic taskforce in advancing investment and enterprise, tribal asset development, social and community development.
And there’s my particular passion- the move to integrate health and social services right across the policy sector, in the pursuit of whanau ora.
We are dedicated to making present again, the voice of Maori, the authentic and independent Maori voice. It is about unity of vision; strength of purpose; quality of representation. It is the unique combination of the Maori seats; MMP; the Maori electoral option and a coalition arrangement established on the values of mana maintenance and enhancement.
Of course there are issues….and there has already been evidence of the use of the ‘agree to disagree provisions’.
But throughout all, we remember you can’t cross a river simply by standing and staring at the water. It’s our job to get in there, to immerse ourselves in the ebb and flow; to ride the current and to all the time stay fixed on the goal. As they say, follow the river and we will find the sea.
Or as we say in Whanganui, ko au te awa, ko te awa ko au. It is about determining our destiny, and then following it. Tena tatou katoa.
ENDS
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